Citizens' Rights and Duties

Featured Articles
July 7, 2022 PMAY needs policy commitment to rehabilitate slums in small and medium cities of Gujarat
Need for legal framework for land rights in small and medium cities of Gujarat under PMAY (Image: Homes in the City)
December 6, 2019 A report by the India Rivers Forum highlights the need to focus further than the main stem of the Ganga river.
Distant snow clad mountains, the smaller hills and the Ganga river (Image: Srimoyee Banerjee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
November 21, 2019 A report by NIUA brings to light the chinks in Jaipur's sewage system and suggests some solutions.
Routine check done by the sewage treatment plant staff in Delawas, Jaipur. The plant is part of the ADB best practices projects list. (Image: Asian Development Bank, Flickr Commons)
November 18, 2019 Bangalore's water utility is understaffed, under financed and unable to service the city's water needs.
Image credit: Citizen Matters
November 15, 2019 On World Toilet Day, we bring to light the labour of India’s sewer workers - those who do the unclean work that a Clean India relies on.
Photo credit: Sharada Prasad
In the business of transformation
A toilet complex managed by college students sets an example of a sustainable model for accessing sanitation. Posted on 02 Aug, 2018 04:11 PM

Pramod Kumar Singh, the caretaker of a community toilet complex in northwest Delhi’s Sultanpuri area is proud about its upkeep. The complex, built by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and inaugurated in 2016, is well maintained with beautiful landscaping, posters and wall art.

Delhi Street Art has painted cartoons and caricatures on the walls to attract people to the community toilet complex at Sultanpuri. (Image: Project Raahat, Enactus)
Challenges of being a ‘Prerak’
The job of a Swachh Bharat Mission Prerak is to ensure the mission is completed on time. They have many hurdles to cross before reaching the finishing line. Posted on 27 Jul, 2018 01:35 PM

Most of Etawah, a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in Uttar Pradesh, has plenty of stories to share about their favourite leader Daddaji or Mulayam Singh Yadav, one of the former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh. The area bordering the ravines near Chambal, on the other hand, resounds with tales of dacoits like Phoolan Devi, Seema Parihar and Nirbhay Gujjar.

Divyanshu Seth and Aishwarya Mishra (second and third from left in the first row) during a menstrual hygiene management session. (Pic courtesy: Divyanshu Seth)
Setting safe sanitation example
Villager builds twin pit latrine and sets example for others on behaviour change and safe sanitation. Posted on 12 Jul, 2018 11:55 AM

Manohar in Talabpura village of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh came up with the decision to make a double pit latrine. He is indeed a multi-talented person.

Manohar's twin pit latrine gets constructed. (Pic courtesy: PSI)
Indian villages look to Bhutan for water
No water supply from India, four remote villages in West Bengal are forced to depend on the neighbouring Bhutan for water. Posted on 05 Jul, 2018 08:15 PM

A lot has been discussed about the acute water crisis in many parts of India. But who would have thought some villages in rural West Bengal have to depend on a neighbouring nation for water?

Damini Minj cycles long distance to collect water from Aiba basti. (Pic courtesy: Gurvinder Singh)
Village steps up water revival effort
A temple trust revives an ancient stepwell, comes to the rescue of a water-starved village. Posted on 04 Jul, 2018 02:33 PM

Long before piped water supply became the norm, groundwater got extracted for use and rivers neglected, stepwells served as a major source of water for people.

Stepwell in front of Khedamata temple at Modi village. (Source: India Water Portal)
Creating community leaders to tackle disaster
Under UNICEF’s initiative to mitigate disaster risk, community leaders are created to make villages disaster ready. Posted on 25 Jun, 2018 05:01 PM

Tired from the Baidyanath dhamyatra (pilgrimage) in the nearby town of Deoghar, Nunlal Kamath is stealing a quick nap on a charpoy outside his house. His house is right on the western bank of Kosi, north Bihar’s river of sorrow, in a particularly flood-prone area where there are no high grounds or flood platforms nearby.  

Village disaster management committee has built sand and boulder spurs to deflect floods at spots where bank erosion takes place. (Pic courtesy: GEAG)
Public hearing for green clearance a sham
There seems to be a rush to approve hydropower projects in Uttarakhand. In the absence of safeguards, this is likely to have adverse effect on the Himalayan ecology and the people. Posted on 21 Jun, 2018 04:36 PM

Supin, a tributary of river Tons and a part of river Yamuna gushes through the hilly tracts of Uttarkashi district. Like all rivers meandering through the lush terrains and forests of Uttarakhand, Supin too is being aggressively tapped for hydropower generation by the government.

Public hearing for Jakhol Sankri hydropower project did not take consent of affected communities on a sensitive issue that impacts their lives. (Picture courtesy: Vimal Bhai)
Pink city turns heat island
A new phenomenon, urban heat islands in Jaipur indicates that the city has begun to witness the worst of climate change. Posted on 18 Jun, 2018 09:37 AM

This summer, Jaipur’s temperatures are soaring upwards of 40 degree Celsius. Jaipur witnessed its hottest day on April 26 when a temperature of 43.2 degree Celsius was recorded.

A man sits under the scorching heat of the sun in front of Amer fort in Jaipur. The city landscape is now dominated by heat trapping materials that prevent its cooling through evapotranspiration. (Picture courtesy: Prabhu B Doss, Flickr Commons: CC-By-NC-ND-2.0)
Indore retains its cleanest city tag
Indore became the cleanest city in India for the second time in a row, thanks to the untiring efforts of its municipal corporation and residents. A video tells the success story. Posted on 17 Jun, 2018 06:26 PM

Indore has retained its cleanest city tag in the clean India survey 2018. Before it was praised for its cleanliness drive in 2017, the city was just like any other urban city in India dealing with its mounting garbage problem.

Clean road near Pardesipura, Indore. (Source: India Water Portal)
Toilets need water, women suffer under ODF drive
Toilets in households have only increased the drudgery of village women as they have to fetch water from faraway sources for toilet use. Posted on 12 Jun, 2018 01:28 PM

Rajasthan is all geared up for the open defecation free (ODF) status well before the national deadline of October 2, 2019. According to the assistant engineer of the nagar parishad, Resha Singh, 4.75 lakh toilets have been constructed since October 2, 2014 in Alwar district which is about to be declared ODF.

Village women collect water for toilet use. (Photo by India Water Portal)
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